星期
week
HSK level
- Pinyin
- xīngqī
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 21
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个
- In episodes
- 4
Stroke order for 星期
星期 is written with 21 strokes (星: 9, 期: 12). The animation replays automatically.
What does 星期 mean?
星期 (xīngqī) means 'week,' and it is also the root for naming days of the week: 星期一 'Monday,' 星期二 'Tuesday,' through 星期六 'Saturday,' with 星期天 (xīngqī tiān) or 星期日 (xīngqī rì) for 'Sunday.'
To ask 'what day is it?' use 今天星期几? (jīntiān xīngqī jǐ). To count weeks, add a measure word: 一个星期 'one week,' 两个星期 'two weeks.'
The synonym 周 (zhōu) means the same thing and is more common in written or formal contexts: 周一 'Monday' (written), 周末 'weekend.' Both 星期 and 周 are correct; 星期 is the textbook HSK 1 form and what learners are usually taught first. Note 星期 literally means 'star period,' a calque from Buddhist astronomy.
Character by character
Memory hook: 星期 = 'star period.' Each day in the old astronomical week was named for a star — Mandarin kept the name but numbered the days.
Hear 星期 in real episodes
星期 appears in 4 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
星期四，她在网上写了这件事。
On Thursday, she wrote about this online.
A Senator Pays a Bakery Bill After Six Years and a Viral Post
你的衣服，三个星期没有洗，会很臭。
If you don't wash your clothes for three weeks, they'll be very smelly.
Tongue Scrapers Beat Toothbrushes at Fighting Bad Breath — and Your Tongue's Bacteria May Help Lower Your Blood Pressure
一个人说：今天是星期天，我们能不能有一天，没有这个声音？
One person said: today is Sunday, can't we have one day without this noise?
Boxes Falling From the Sky: Amazon's Delivery Drones Are Driving a Texas Suburb Up the Wall
星期六，很多人在商店前面等。
On Saturdays, lots of people wait outside the shop.
Opened at 11, Half a Million Fans: How TikTok Shop Turned a Small-Town British Fidget-Toy Shop Into a Hit
Example sentences
今天星期几？
Jīntiān xīngqī jǐ?
What day of the week is it today?
spoken
今天星期三。
Jīntiān xīngqī sān.
Today is Wednesday.
neutral
我下个星期去上海。
Wǒ xià ge xīngqī qù Shànghǎi.
I'm going to Shanghai next week.
neutral
一个星期有七天。
Yí ge xīngqī yǒu qī tiān.
A week has seven days.
neutral
Common phrases with 星期
Synonyms
周 means 'week' too, but it's shorter and more written/formal. 周一 = 星期一 'Monday.' Calendars, news, and offices use 周; spoken Chinese and HSK 1 textbooks use 星期.
Colloquial, common in southern China and Taiwan: 礼拜一 'Monday.' Originally a Christian term ('worship day'). Northern Mandarin speakers prefer 星期 or 周.
Don't confuse 星期 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 星期 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 星期 in 4 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.